The Mitchell Grass Downs is a

tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi- humid climate regions of subtropical and ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

in northeastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a mostly treeless grassland, characterised by Mitchell grasses (''Astrebla'' spp.).

Location and description

The ecoregion is bounded on the north and east by tropical savanna ecoregions – the

Victoria Plains tropical savanna The Victoria Plains tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northwestern Australia. Geography The ecoregion lies in the central Northern Territory, extending into northeastern Western ...

to the northeast, the

Carpentaria tropical savanna The Carpentaria tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northern Australia. Geography The ecoregion lies in northwestern Queensland and northeastern Northern Territory, south of the ...

to the north, the

Einasleigh Uplands savanna The Einasleigh Uplands is an interim Australian bioregion, with vegetation consisting of savanna and woodland located on a large plateau in inland Queensland, Australia. It corresponds to the Einasleigh Uplands savanna ecoregion, as identified ...

to the northeast, and the

Brigalow tropical savanna The Brigalow Belt is a wide band of acacia-wooded grassland that runs between Queensland tropical rain forests, tropical rainforest of the coast and the semi-arid interior of Queensland, Australia. The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation fo ...

to the east. More arid ecoregions lie to west and south – the

Great Sandy-Tanami desert Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

to the southwest, the

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Deserts of Australia, Australian desert, with an area of . The desert ...

to the south, and the Eastern Australia mulga shrublands to the southeast. The ecoregion includes three

IBRA region The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeography, biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities ( ...

s –

Mitchell Grass Downs The Mitchell Grass Downs is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northeastern Australia. It is a mostly treeless grassland, characterised by Mitchell grasses (''Astrebla'' spp.). Location and descrip ...

Mount Isa Inlier Mount Isa Inlier, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Queensland,IBRA Versio ...

, and

Desert Uplands The Desert Uplands is an interim Australian bioregion located in north and central western Queensland which straddles the Great Dividing Range between Blackall and Pentland. Geography The bioregion contains Lake Galilee, Lake Dunn and Lake ...

Climate

The climate is tropical and semi-arid. Average annual rainfall varies across the ecoregion, from 350 mm to 750 mm. In much of the ecoregion rainfall is seasonal, coinciding with the summer monsoon. Rainfall becomes less seasonal towards the southeast.

Flora

The vegetation consists mostly of grasses along with wildflowers and low shrubs, including Queensland bluebush (''Chenopodium auricomum''). There are scattered dry acacia woodlands, predominantly of gidgee (''Acacia cambagei''). Watercourses support woodlands of

red river gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as the river red gum, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers an ...

(''Eucalyptus camuldulensis''),

coolibah ''Eucalyptus coolabah'', commonly known as coolibah or coolabah, is a species of tree found in eastern inland Australia. It has rough bark on part or all of the trunk, smooth powdery cream to pink bark above, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves ...

(''E. coolabah''), and

paperbark ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of ''Leptospermum''). They range in size f ...

(''Melaleuca'' spp.). The Desert Uplands has dry woodlands of ''

Eucalyptus populnea ''Eucalyptus populnea'', commonly known as poplar box, bimble box or bimbil box, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, fibrous or flaky bark on the trunk and branches, egg-shaped, elliptic ...

, E. melanophloia'', and '' E. similis''. Low open woodlands of snappy gum (''Eucalyptus leucophloia''), Cloncurry box (''E. leucophylla''), and

silver box ''Silver Box'' is a 5-CD box set by Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released in October 2004. It includes ''Our Secrets Are the Same'' (as disc 5), the band's long-delayed (1999/2000) twelfth studio album of original material. Overview ...

(''E. pruinosa'') grow in the Mount Isa Inlier.

External links

References

{{Reflist Biogeography of the Northern Territory Ecoregions of Queensland Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands